War veteran Frank Damerell – Night Fighter Navigator. His medals include the Légion d’honneur medal, the highest decoration in France.

Here are some photos taken from this morning’s gathering in Chandler’s Ford.

Remembrance Sunday at Chandler’s Ford War Memorial 2018: Eastleigh past mayor Des Scott with the vicar Dr Ian BirdBeautiful blue skies ahead of the Remembrance Service in Chandler’s Ford.The stones were beautifully painted by the Beavers.At the start of the memorial service outdoor.Small wooden crossesChandler’s Ford War Memorial 2018The programme of the serviceThe programme of the Remembrance Sunday service

Attended remembrance at Trinity College, Kandy. Their chapel is an architectural gem and the service very moving. About half of the 64 boys who fell in WWI were planters’ sons and the other half, Sri Lankans.

The headmaster had arranged for the British Legion to ship out a box of poppies for the occasion.

A friend told me an amusing story about her visit to the War graves Cemetery in Kandy. It accommodates the fallen from Colombo but there is one who fell in Trincomalee which has its own cemetery.

A memorial service was held in my village in Normandy. Names of the fallen were read out – quite a lot for a small village – and the Mayor was obliged to read out a three page statement from President Macron about the benefits of the EU and alliance with Germany. I understand that this statement was sent to every Mayor in the country. This imposition of politics robbed the event of its dignity and Macron should know that outside of Paris not everyone supports his EU.

My recollections of the Great War are from the Welsh mining village where I grew up. I remember men with white scarfs and red poppies coughing (because of gas) outside the Workingman’s club, Uncle Wilfred with a hole in his chest, Grandad survived shelling because he was buried under the horses, and we remembered Percy Brownhill, a teenager with Downs – in those days referred to as Mongolism with parents comforted by doctors who told them they won’t live very long! Percy, along with many lads with Downs, died quickly in battle. Fighting and firing squads for cowardice (now recognised as PTSD) continued after the armistice.

It was inevitable that my first book would be about this war, and while it was well received it was used by Alan Bleasdale who wrote an appalling play about the war revealing his limitations as a playwright.